Stocks closed higher on Tuesday with all of the major indexes in the green. And right on cue, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, once again, made new all-time highs. And it marked the 8th new all-time high close for each of them in the last 10 days.

Big-tech has been the key driver spurred on by AI.

That was on full display with NVIDIA making another new all-time high of their own. YTD, they are up more than 173%. As impressive as that is, they also achieved another record milestone, which was becoming the most valuable company by market-cap. At the close of business on Tuesday, NVIDIA's market-cap was $3.335 trillion, surpassing Microsoft's $3.317 trillion to take the crown.

At the beginning of the year, NVIDIA was 'only' at $1.221 trillion market-cap, below Amazon's $1.570 trillion, and well below Microsoft's $2.794 trillion, and Apple's $2.977 trillion, which was the market-cap leader at that time.

With no end in sight to the AI boom, we could very well see these key players, and others deeply involved in the AI race, soar to unimaginable heights.

There will no doubt be bumps along the way. But we are seeing something truly spectacular taking place as AI is expected to touch virtually every industry in some way shape or form, as well as impact ordinary lives. In fact, AI is shaping up to be just as transformative, if not more so, than the personal computer, the internet, and the mobile phone.

Fortunes will be made along the way. And plenty already have.

In other news, Tuesday's Retail Sales came in a bit weaker than expected with a gain of 0.1% m/m vs. views for 0.3%, but improved from last month's -0.2%. Ex-Vehicles it was down -0.1% vs. estimates for 0.3%, but in line with last month's -0.1% pace. Ex-Vehicles & Gas it was up 0.1% vs. the consensus for 0.3%, but again, better than last month's -0.3%.

Industrial Production rose 0.9% m/m vs. views for 0.3% and last month's 0.0%. Manufacturing Output was up 0.9% as well vs. estimates for 0.2% and last month's -0.4%, while the Capacity Utilization Rate came in at 78.7%, above the consensus for 78.6% and last month's 78.2%.

And Business Inventories were up 0.3% m/m, in line with estimates, and improving from last month's -0.1%.

Even though the markets were closed yesterday for Juneteenth, we still got a few economic reports. MBA Mortgage Applications showed the Composite Index up 0.9% w/w with purchases up 1.6% vs. last week's 8.6%, and refi's down -0.4% vs. last week's 28.4%.

And the Housing Market Index came in at 43 vs. last month's 45 and expectations for the same.

Today we'll get the Housing Starts and Permits report, Weekly Jobless Claims, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, and the Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations.

We'll also hear from Fed policymakers Neel Kashkari, Thomas Barkin, and Mary Daly as they speak at their respective engagements throughout the day.

All of the major indexes are currently on pace to close up for the week. If so, that'll make it 1 week in a row for the Dow and the small-cap Russell 2000; 2 weeks in a row for the mid-cap S&P 400, and 3 weeks in a row for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

See you tomorrow,